


To Please A Kitsune

by Valentine20xx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Human Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama, Multi, Protective Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-04 01:57:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20463152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentine20xx/pseuds/Valentine20xx
Summary: When Kushina notices that the Kyuubi is actually short-sighted, due to the fact most of the seal arrays were a inky blackness, she decides to do an experiment... which sees the Kyuubi ending up as Kurama Uzumaki, the older sister of Naruto...





	1. A New Approach

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto, and is used without permission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the time, Kyuubi is portrayed as a massive troll, who can't help but make Naruto's life hell. I was planning to make something similar, then I had an image of her in glasses, and it fell into place. Plot bunnies. Can't live with them, can't write a thing without them. Something I wish to note is that the Kyuubi having sight problems is not just to give her a disability, or due to the Meganekko fetish, but actually due to the fact that I've got bad headaches and mild sight problems from late night writing sessions in reality.  
For her to have eye problems after being in imprisonment in a dark place for long periods, it's all too plausible, and it's more a way to highlight that she has problems and insecurities that she's not told anyone, and that the nature of her attack on Konohagakure was far from what she wanted to do, but, potentially, she couldn't actually even see what she was doing...
> 
> ...Oh yes, as well as the Tsukuyomi.

It all began with a simple experiment by Kushina. She decided to approach the Kyuubi from a different direction each time, and from further and further distances, when she entered the seal, to notice something. If she didn't make any noise, it failed to acknowledge that she'd even arrived until she came close to the place where it was tethered, the growled greetings and sharp retorts seeming empty when she knew it had a massive blind spot.

Testing a theory, she stopped using the rock and chains, instead creating a replica of Uzushiogakure, the Kyuubi shrunk down to the size of a common fox, with the tools for it's restoration hidden in plain sight…  
Just outside of the distance it noticed her at. Over the following days, she noticed something odd. Namely that the replica hadn't been disrupted in any meaningful way. Somehow, a creature considered the single most dangerous entity in the Elemental Nations… hadn't done anything to even damage the village. She entered the area where it was wandering, pulling it into her lap.

"Nothing has been destroyed, No-one's running in terror..." Kushina observed.

"Two or three pet rabbits might have disappeared..." The fox offered, it's voice, at this size, soft and surprisingly feminine, "I was surprised when it _seemed_ like you released me from the seal, with most of my power weakened by the method… I actually thought you had, and decided to make the most of it..."

"Yet nothing, outside of a few pets, has been killed, and the village is still intact, plus you're still lap-sized..." Kushina continued, stroking it's head, "How is that making the most of it?"

"Datara's not awake, so that's not on the agenda for a few decades," The fox offered with a yawn, Kushina's eyebrow raising at the name, "That's how I knew it wasn't real. Couldn't get very far from the village before the landscape just went repetitive… Still, Waking up Datara is not something I want to do right now. Currently been sleeping at the temple to Inari, the priestesses give belly rubs to any foxes they meet… If I wasn't lap-sized, how would I get the belly rubs?"

Kushina wasn't sure what to think. The Kyuubi no Yoko, _**the fearsome leader of the Bijuu**_, basically was scamming belly rubs off the priestesses as the most disruptive thing it had done since she'd, unknown to it, actually hid the seal in said temple's fox statue when she made the replica village, the temple not being there in reality. The priestesses were intended as a distraction if the Kyuubi found the temple, but it didn't see them as the kind of distraction she did. It saw them as a way to just be a fox.

"Well, I think that you've proven quite how much I can trust you..." She stated, an image of one of the priestesses she'd created in her mind as she used the fact it was her mind they were in to change the fox into a priestess, earning a confused yelp from the fox-turned-girl, "Hey! What was that for? Not that I don't mind, but what..."

"You can change yourself back at any time..." Kushina stated, "Now, go back to the temple, and I'll be back in a few months..."

When she got back the second time, after discovering what the Kyuubi meant by Datara, and shuddering at the revelation that the Kyuubi _wasn't_ the most destructive thing in the Elemental Nations, or the true leader of the Bijuu, she headed for the temple to find her… sweeping the front of the main building, a pair of glasses perched on her nose, getting, for the first time since she started the experiment, noticed as she came into view.

"What's with the glasses and… actually doing what you would be doing if you were always a priestess?" Kushina asked, even more confused now.

"Never thought to do two things… One, take on a human form. Two, get some glasses," Kurama stated, "Any particular reason she's a redhead?"

"It's a common hair colour in Uzu..." Kushina replied, "Still, You likely know how to unseal your powers..."

"Go check..." Kurama stated, for Kushina to find that someone had removed the seal that could change the Kyuubi back into a nine-tailed fox, the girl coming up behind her, "I don't want to be that any more… Since seeing things from the angle of the things I…. I destroyed, I can't go back to being what I was..."

"You don't have to..." Kushina offered, "I have some things I need to do, then..."

"Then?" Kurama asked, to just get her hair ruffled, her fox ears popping up and getting played with a few moments later.

A few years later, after several more visits to Kurama, where Uzushiogakure changed into Konohagakure, she was entering a bedroom, whose construction had been a closely guarded secret, the owner even more so, as she watched Kurama, not wanting to admit how close she looked to herself at that age, except for her omnipresent glasses. She now knew it was a necessary thing, with the fact the Kyuubi couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of her clearly. The fact it wasn't unheard of for Uzumaki women to need glasses was why she didn't bring up the fact with the girl herself. She entered a replica of of the bedroom, where Kurama was looking at her in confusion.

"Whose bedroom is this?" She asked, "I've not seen it anywhere in Uzu, or Konoha..."

"It'll be yours soon enough. You're not exactly a nine-tailed demon fox any more... Unless it involves the pocky seller, and your need for a candy fix," Kushina stated, "I'll be drawing up papers with Minato for your new status to become official once Naruto is born, The weakness in the seal at that time will give you ample chance to slip the noose for good… With how you're sealed, you'll lose most of your tails, but you don't exactly use them..."

"You trust me that much?" The girl asked, fox ears and a fox tail manifesting, the tail swishing in agitation, "But I'm..."

"On the clan roll, and haven't done anything to make me think you're going to cause trouble..." Kushina stated, "Now, Naruto will need his big sister to take care of him if something goes wrong… Promise me, Kurama… Be that big sister for him. End the time of the Kyuubi..."

Before Kushina or Kurama could take that last step, a mysterious man approached Kushina, and Kurama found herself not in control of her body as the best part of a decade of goodwill was destroyed in an instant. The papers remained unfiled on Minato's desk, and were misfiled in the following chaos. Kurama found herself back to square one, sealed within the original seal configuration, inside who was almost her brother. She didn't like being sealed like this. For one, the manga she stored in the seal was woefully out of date!

Several years later, Naruto slumped as he considered how many things had gone wrong with what should have been the beginning of his great career as a ninja of the leaf. First, Mizuki had turned out to be a traitor to the leaf, then his team assignment was toxic, with Sasuke hating him, and he'd begun to feel like that, maybe, just maybe, Sakura _only _barely tolerated him at best. At worst, he would be expected to team up with, for the rest of his career, with a pair of people who would take turns to contemplate stabbing him in the back.

He'd have taken that chinese girl in Neji's team as a teammate, or that quiet girl who always sat behind him. They were both girls who didn't sigh happily at Sasuke-teme every time he walked past, meaning he'd not get hit half as much for disagreeing with Sasuke or finding fault in Sasuke…

He collapsed on his bed, tired of all the crap he was dealing with. Maybe his dreams would be better...

...only to abruptly find himself floating face down in some water. He got up, finding himself, surreally, completely dry despite the fact he should have been drenched. The even more odd thing was that he was very much aware of his surroundings and situation. Heading further into the chamber, he found himself walking into a dimly lit room where a dark red-haired teenage girl was sat, dressed in what seemed to be a tailored crimson leather jumpsuit, reading a manga. What was more interesting was that she was in a ball-shaped cage, the lower third filled with pillows that she was sat on.

She muttered something to herself as she leafed through the manga, grumbling about something he couldn't make out, before taking out a pair of glasses, sighing and going back to the manga, eventually giving up and tossing it over her shoulder, the book disintegrating as she took out a different one, then she just gave up, threw it after the first, and looked across at him.

"Something must have gone bad..." She muttered, "Okaasan isn't here, and hasn't been here for over a decade, and now you..."

"Umm, What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, for her to glare at him over the top of her glasses.

"Usual visiting hours are between the periods of 'Terrible Peril' and 'Almost Certain Death' right now," She declared, adding, as an aside, "I will forgive you for coming outside of usual hours with the presentation of a box of pocky, some good shoujo manga or good quality ear rubs,"

"I don't have any pocky or shoujo manga, I didn't expect to need some!" He snapped back, the girl visibly pouting, "And what do you mean by 'terrible peril and almost certain death'?"

"I'm not someone you visit because your school life is shit. I know, I know… They gave you the wrong tests, kicked you out of key skills lessons and didn't give you the _mandatory_ lessons in chakra control, but I am not someone who handles those kinds of things..." She stated, "Good thoughts on who to enter a relationship with. I only know of two people outside you alive who have Uzumaki bloodlines, and that's by accident. I don't count, due to extenuating circumstances..."

"What do you mean by all that?" Naruto snapped, "Anyway, What kind of extenuating circumstances?"

"First of all, I'm stuck in here, and..." She began, then, looking thoughtful, offered, "Secondly, What's got nine tails, and is officially, according to anyone that matters, as well as the public records on the subject, dead?"

"Umm… The Kyuubi no Yok… Oh shit..." Naruto stated, as she took off the glasses only for the cage to change into a massive wall of iron, behind which an equally intimidating pair of yellow eyes glared at him, a mouthful of sharp teeth grinning at him. Naruto now knew the _other _circumstances. She _**was**_ the Kyuubi.

"BOO," The fox boomed, transforming back into the girl as she began laughing to herself as he fled, back to being sat in the ball cage with all evidence of what she'd just done gone, with her adding, "Not had to do that… well, except for that little incident just over a decade ago… And I am sorry about that, Wasn't myself… in nearly 18 years..."

"You're seriously..." Naruto began.

"I prefer Kyuubi no Kitsune… Not been Yoko since I got this body. I also prefer Kurama…" She offered, "Most of my best days were when I use Kurama..."

"Still, you're the big bad..." Naruto began, to earn the same eyes-over-glasses glare as earlier, "Ahem, so if you're the Kyuubi, Why are you sat here in this place, reading..."

"Decade-old manga?" Kurama offered, "Well, I can't exactly go to the manga store and get some new issues! I'm stuck here 'on probation' until you kick the bucket… And if I breach my probation, I kick the bucket as well. Good call there, Dad!"

Naruto shook his head, not wanting to know who Kurama's father was that she hated him so much.

"So, Why is this place flooded like this?" Naruto asked, for her to look thoughtful.

"One of the pipes burst shortly after I arrived..." Kurama mused, "Bet your chakra control is an absolute mess, and has been since as long as you can remember… They should have taught you about this, but nooooooo… Can't have the Kyuubi's container able to use his abilities… I'd love to know what they'd done if she filed those papers..."

"So, it isn't water, but..." Naruto began.

"Chakra, yes, but it won't exactly help swimming in it..." Kurama stated, rubbing her nose, "Look, since I do need to show I'm not the 'big bad Kyuubi'… Just the Kyuubi… I'll look into fixing the plumbing… But your lap, my head and some pampering will come up in the near future!"

Naruto blinked as she summoned a pair of rubber boots, before opening the cage and dropping out of it, for it to shoot up towards the ceiling, vanishing from sight.

"Lesson 1 about the seal… It's not meant to keep me in the cage… Learned that over a decade ago, during a particularly odd time in Uzu... Well, it looked like Uzu," Kurama offered, leading him into a location where some pipes were, one of them clearly broken and pouring the liquid into the chamber.

"The drainage system is working, that's good..." She muttered, pushing her glasses up onto the top of her head as she created a wrench and began removing the damaged section, "You go have a dream about ramen. I'm going to deal with this plumbing,"

A few hours, and a really really good dream about ramen, later, Naruto woke up, feeling a lot better than he had in weeks.

"_Kurama?_" He wondered.

"_Bwuh…__ Oh, Naruto, you're awake..._" Kurama stated, getting the impression she was jumping to her feet, "_I'm awake, I'm awake… Don't exactly need sleep. Would love some right now… Goddamn Uzumaki chakra coils..."  
_

"_Thanks..."_ Naruto thought.

"_Best thing you can do for me is to make a single clone. Need to test the repairs anyway. Think of when you saw me, and I'll do the rest..._" Kurama offered, her clone stretching a few times after it had formed. Naruto then had a thought, and sat down on his couch, and gave her that pampering she'd asked for. After she'd had a short nap in his lap, she yawned, and got up.

"You go do your team introductions, I have some things to do involving the Hokage..." Kurama said, "You're not permitted to know what until after I've done so,"

A short time later, Sarutobi was startled when a fox-girl, who looked like a younger Kushina, walked in, the ANBU coming out of hiding to cut her off.

"GODDAMMIT, I HAVE PERMISSION, YOU KNOW!" She snapped, several balls of fox fire forming, the ANBU fleeing as she even more resembled Kushina in her youth.

"Ahem, Let me guess..." Sarutobi asked, taking out a sheaf of papers from a folder, "Kurama Uzumaki?"

"Mom at least did that right..." She stated, looking over the papers, "Should have grown up alongside Naruto in a physical sense, ended up stuck in him for a decade and change..."

"So, The bedroom?" Sarutobi asked, Kurama nodding, "So, why did you not come in earlier?"

Kurama simply beckoned towards the general direction of the formerly destroyed portion of the village.

"Minor case of destruction of personal property and arson, caused by a high-level Tsukuyomi…" She offered, "Plus my 'little' brother only knew I was around last night… I blame his father, that or his godparents… Where are they anyway?"

"Yes, That was a particularly bad situation, and we'll consider you to have been punished enough for it… And also take partial blame for him not learning of your existence… And finally, We will track down Jiraiya or Tsunade if we need to," Sarutobi stated, "Your family name I assume is to be kept classified?"

"Until it is needed to be revealed..." She replied, doing some stretches, "The one thing good about being made of chakra in the first place… This… might have been a clone, first one Naruto did right… but burned out all Naruto's chakra in it just dealing with the ANBU on the way here… Left most of my tails in the seal, before you ask, but I can sustain it as long as I need to. Kept enough Naruto in here for him to dispel it..."

"I will file your registration, and mark you as an interim member of Team 7. If you show a willingness to make up for your mistakes, I will allow you to become a full member." Sarutobi stated, Kurama nodding, watching as she headed off to tell her little big brother the news. And probably terrify a pocky salesman. She'd run out a decade ago. Phantasmal pocky was not as good as real pocky!


	2. A Fox Amongst Ninja

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After feeding a few wild plot bunnies to a nice fox… Yes, You’re a good foxy woxy, Yes, you are… Ahem… I have got to Chapter 2, where a certain mission will come up.  
Naruto can only dispel Kurama’s body since the chakra is, in a way, still his. As time goes on, the dispel will not work as effectively, but, by then, she’ll not need it. I will add that she can use the seal to store things like packets of pocky and manga. Oh yes, and her glasses so she doesn't break them.

A few hours later, as Kakashi arrived at Training Ground 7, Kurama also arrived, and handed over the piece of paper, before cracking open a packet of pocky, a blissful expression on her face as she chewed on the stick.

“Why do we suddenly have four members?” Sakura asked.

“Kurama here is a special case...” Kakashi stated, “Don’t...”

"Special, as in Special Needs?” Sakura sneered, “Bet you can’t even hold a kunai the right… ERK!”

Her statement was cut off when Kurama’s ears and tail unfolded, and she summoned some fox fire.

“Special as in Dispensation...” She stated with an unusually toothy grin, and Sasuke put two and two together.

“Isn’t she meant to be...” Sasuke asked.

“Do you want me to gouge out those damn eyes of yours?” Kurama growled, “The bastard who made me destroy half the village used Uchiha techniques, Uchiha eyes...”

“Kurama!… KAI!” Naruto snapped, Kurama only having time to give a quiet ‘Eep!’ before she vanished with a pop.

“She’s on an hour of time out for threatening you with grievous bodily harm...” Naruto explained, “But she has a point, otherwise it would be longer… DON’T go round insulting her, She’s worth ten of you two...”

“Bring her back out, and we’ll do a spar. No fancy fox tricks, only Academy standard sparring rules...” Sakura stated, Naruto making another Kurama-clone.

“Can’t use them for about an hour or two after losing the clone I’m using...” Kurama stated, “And, before you ask how he did the clone jutsu perfectly, I spent all last night fixing his chakra coils...”

Half an hour later, Kakashi looked at Sakura and Sasuke, who were looking annoyed, sore and humbled, while Kurama enjoyed one of her new manga.

“Anyway, Naruto can take away her privileges, if she begins to show signs of lapsing into the kind of behaviour she did when she destroyed part of the village...” Kakashi stated, “Otherwise, she’s on permanent assignment with the team until all members make Chunin, I will forego the usual test, since I have decided to do an experimental team arrangement,”

He then smirked, all four of them looking very worried, Kurama since she’d only just finished replacing the chakra in her body with her own.

“Sasuke, Sakura, you will be given a D-Rank mission at the start of the day, and Naruto and Kurama will be given a different one with a similar difficulty. You will be graded on how well you complete the missions as well as how many you complete in each day. At the end of the week, I will reward the two team members who grade highest on both criteria.” Kakashi stated, “Kurama, how long after you are dispelled before you can use kitsune techniques?”

“Hour, maybe two...” Kurama offered, and yelped as she was dispelled.

“Restore her _only_ when you get to the mission,” Kakashi stated, Naruto understanding. No chance of ‘cheating’ with kitsune techniques.

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi in incredulity as he brought up what he was planning.

“So, you’re doing a modified version of the usual testing, by pitting them against each other, purely to...” Sarutobi asked.

“Allow Kurama to help Naruto shore up what problems there are in his style, while also lowering the chance of antagonism within the team dynamic.” Kakashi stated, “Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura become an effective team in their own right, or see their ‘Top ninja and kunoichi’ standing go into the toilet against two people that, if they lost to them, it would leave them as the only reason for the failure...”

“Plus it will mean that the two most polarizing elements of village life will be forced to prove their worth...” Sarutobi offered, Kakashi nodding. This would be interesting.

A few days later, Sasuke glared at Kurama, who had a purring Tora in the crook of one arm.

“I dealt with Matatabi all the time. You deal with a Nekomata, who is far smarter than common cats, and the so-called demon cat of Fire Country is nothing...” Kurama stated, “Oh yes, The Hokage’s wife is getting a new cat, since she felt I was a better owner than herself...”

“And no, Kurama didn’t even go one tail...” Naruto stated, “She’s just that good with cats… She's terrible with dogs, they see her as a threat to their territory,”

“Anyway, So far, Kurama has managed to repair her personal standing with at least a dozen people, and three times that when she adopted Tora,” Kakashi stated, “While you two, Sakura especially, You really need to improve your attitude. While you managed to complete more tasks, your after-mission service was deplorable. Meanwhile, Naruto and Kurama, who both have the worst reputation in the village, have only glowing reports, and are quickly making up time...”

“You are expecting that, just because you did well, and are efficient, you don’t need to do much else, and they’ll just kiss the ground you walk on...” Kurama stated, “They see a kitsune walking with Naruto, and well, even with the official paperwork by Sarutobi, they give me terrible glares, waiting for me to mess up and bite their head off. When I’m polite, kind and efficient, they actually can’t believe I am the same fox as they hate...”

Meanwhile, the more kitsune-phobic village elders were looking at Sarutobi with venom.

“She is the Kyuubi? Walking outside of the seal?” One of them stated, “Why has there been no attempt to check the seal?”

“The seal was checked, privately, and this is actually a function of it,” Sarutobi stated, “I will not say her power level in the body she uses, or any weaknesses to this technique, for fear of reprisals vetted out by this body...”

They grumbled, knowing what he was saying, even if he didn’t state it outright. If he was to say she was one tailed outright, they’d send an S-Rank assassin after Naruto and Kurama. And that would end up badly... for the assassin.

“Also, She has, through unpaid work and unassigned help around the village, recouped a lot of good reputation within the village as a kind and polite young girl who more than a few people have begun to ignore the fact she has fox ears and a tail,” Sarutobi stated, “She also has earned a reputation among the ninja of the village for outright taming Tora,”

“That’s ridiculous, Tora is uncontrollable...” One of the other elders stated.

“Mata, as she is now called, was being unintentionally mistreated, and the Daimyo’s wife no longer gives the ‘Tora’ hunting missions,” Sarutobi stated, “Instead, the cat is left with the missions office, and they release it into a controlled area and just let it rip… shred… tear...”

Several people winced as Sarutobi detailed the _new_ Tora mission. To just catch the cat. It was no less vicious a nin-neko, so...

“That is the only reason Kurama isn’t completely loved by the village. The fact that, when she’s not home, her cat continues it’s traditional torment of the village...” Sarutobi finished.

Meanwhile, Tenten walked over to Kurama, giving her the purring cat that was looking smug with itself. The fact only Naruto, Hinata, Tenten or Kurama herself actually could hold it for longer than five minutes without judicious application of sushi off-cuts was not mentioned. Or that the Tora/Mata missions could be short-circuited with a box of sushi.

“Why, Hello, Tenten… Thank you for Mata…” Kurama said, looking at the sun on the horizon, and the pained looking Kiba, “Did he use Akamaru?”

“Yes… Where’s Naruto?” Tenten asked, “I’d expect...”

“The mecca for Ramen lovers everywhere, Ichiraku’s...” Kurama sighed, sliding a stick of pocky out of the packet she was holding, “Rice for me, any time. With chicken and a small serving of sushi for the little one...”

“It’s weird to think...” Tenten offered.

“The red haired girl in glasses is also the most fearsome beast in history?” Kurama stated, looking round before weighing a ball of fire in one hand, then pitching it at a nearby area of wall, for a ninja in an unfamiliar mask to drop from the wall, smoking, as she then whispered, as the ANBU picked them up, “Truth be told, I’ve got sight problems due to living in poor light for decades… Did you notice how I didn’t throw the fox fire immediately?”

Tenten nodded, realising that she'd actually taken a minute to aim.

“I’m near sighted. Not as bad as some mortals, but if I was to use a bijuu bomb on a distant mountain, I’d have a high chance of missing...” Kurama finished, “Given long enough in proper light, and no more sealing into someone, and I’ll be able to correct it. I can’t just correct my vision, I’d lose the correction very quickly due to how going fox form works...”

Her form then poofed, and a single tailed fox appeared and chased Akamaru out of the room, chasing him back in, only to collide with the skirting board, cursing as she changed back.

“Bad form, mutt! I couldn’t see the skirting board clearly, and you knew it!” She snapped, Mata falling out of a hole in space as she put her glasses back on and took back out the pocky, stating to Tenten, "The seal is a storage seal. I'm still connected to it, so..."

An ANBU then approached.

"Lady Uzumaki, You're wanted in the Hokage's office..." He declared, for her to sigh.

"Tenten, be sure to drop her off at the missions office every morning. Admittedly, her food bowl and litter tray are both there, since she is usually deployed by the nin on duty each day," Kurama stated, before she shifted into the fox again and headed for her appointment.

Tazuna looked at the three people who had arrived, his eyes going like saucers when the fox ran in, skidded and came to a stop, transformed into a human, just shy of colliding with the desk.

"Isn't that...?" He asked, worriedly, as he glanced at the bottle in his hand.

"Uzumaki Kurama, although I'm thinking of changing it to Yoko or Ina," She stated, shaking his hand.

"Team 7, you have been requested by Tazuna here to escort him and guard his bridge building project..." Sarutobi stated, "Wave Country has been having issues with it's imports in recent years, and he is working on new export links,"

Tazuna wondered if he should give up the sake. The 'fourth member' of his escort team was a honest-to-goodness kitsune. How the hell was there a kitsune on his escort team?

He knew he'd not paid enough for a set of Chunin or better, but they still sent what was likely a specialist team. Most likely trainees for their ANBU corps, and they were getting field experience. He didn't feel any worry about what would happen.

The kitsune went ahead in her fox form, approaching a puddle, before sticking her tail into it, and there being a sound that made, of all people, Kakashi go pale, before the fox vanished. The water-hiding technique collapsed, and the badly mauled, but still recognisable, corpses of the Demon Brothers appeared.

"When you restore her, she just won herself the bounty on the Demon Brothers..." Kakashi declared, Naruto taking their weapons as Kakashi took their heads for proof, "Why are you taking the weapons?"

"Kurama suggested it. Can probably find a way to use them ourselves..." Naruto offered, Kakashi nodding, checking for any other weapons on the bodies, finding a large amount of ryo and a scroll which displeased him as well, destroying the bodies once the search was done.

"These were paid by someone a hefty amount of ryo, suggesting I know why our mission pay was going to be rather lean..." Kakashi stated, as he pocketed the roll of ryo, "This will be used to supplement it, and we will continue as per mission specifications..."

Tazuna blinked, the fox reappearing.

"I'd hate to know what would happen if they were using a proper hide..." She stated, "The first part was to distract them. The small scale bijuu bomb wasn't."

"Reminded me of the Rasen..." Kakashi mused.

"Similar concept," She interrupted, "Part of why that technique is so unstable... Used up all my chakra... Excuse me, Oniisan, I need an extra tail..."

Naruto nodded. She then did a set of handsigns, and a fox appeared. "I can smell winter on the breeze," She stated simply, the fox nodding, before shooting off in a seemingly random direction.

"Fox summoning contract," She stated, "Apparently, being the boss fox precludes signing it..."

Tazuna now _REALLY_ needed some sake. And to ignore the implications of what she'd said.


End file.
